70 – Home Along the Way!

Home along the Way....Sell it All!

Today we are joined by the Kortman’s who tell us of their amazing experiences trotting the globe with 4 children. Like many couples, Paul and Becky traveled before they ‘settled down’ and started their family.

But the pull of the road being what it is, and the suburban life sometimes being very unfulfilling, they decided (more…)

69 – Rockin’ it with ‘Morgans’ Go Travelling!’

MorgansSimply Going!

This week, we are thrilled to have the Morgan’s on the show,  Jarred and Irirangi (pronounced Eddy), after a tramatic family experience, decided life was too short to be taken for granted. They pulled up stakes in Australia, and hit the road for a year….or more?

We caught up with them in Bangkok, Thailand before they headed to the European leg of their adventure.

Listen as we tackle (more…)

Do you have an excuse or are you making an excuse?

2015-05-31 14.25.06

Rachel and I last week in Ireland!

I know, I know, touchy, touchy.

Here’s the reason for the bold, in-your-face, slap of reality: I woke up this morning asking myself that very same question. Do I have any excuse or am I just making an excuse?

You see, for over a year, my lovely wife Rachel, has done nothing but encourage me to write. I think sometimes she’s made it her mission. “Get up early, I’ll make the coffee.” “Stay up late, I’ll stay up with you.” “I’ll keep the kids quiet.” “Schedule a specific day, whatever you need.” She has done everything in her power to encourage me, short of grabbing my hands and hitting them on the keyboard. and for some unknown reason, I just can’t get the motivation. What I have been able to generate, with some proficiency, is excuses.

“I can’t”

“I’m too busy” “I’m too tired.” “I’m busy running a full time construction company.” “There’s so many other blogs that: look better, sound better, live better, you name it.”  Everything. If there was an excuse factory, I would seriously be running it (or coming up with an excuse of why I couldn’t)

It hit me this morning right square between the eyes, I don’t have any excuse. No real one anyway. And since that thought hit me, I can’t think of anyone else who actually does have an excuse either. Every time I think of some situation that might be an actual real-life excuse, I instantly think of someone who has overcome a situation that seems impossible for most average people to even wrap their head around. I mean really, really think about it. “I can’t write because I’m blind” Well, we all know that’s ridiculous, and has been proven thousands of times! Just look up Helen Keller and you’ll see the first accomplishment in her bio is Author! “I can’t write, because I have a debilitating disease” Nice try. Take a peek at  one of the most influential minds of our time, Steven Hawking, and what’s right up top on his list of contributions to the world? Author! Those are just the first two ‘excuses’  that popped into my head, and the more I really thought about it, just thinking of someone who actually had a real live excuse, was me just looking for another excuse! I realized my own ridiculousness! And so what if I did find someone who in my mind was “worthy” of having an excuse? Does that determine or set into stone my own reality, my own future, my own life? Hell NO!

“What the….?”

So today is for me, and maybe by some cosmic overflow, you as well. Maybe you can grab something useful out of this little rant. To have an excuse that you can make yourself believe, you have no choice other than to MAKE it. You actually have to fabricate the excuse you are going to repeat to yourself until you have no other choice but to believe it! Does that sound more than a little insane to anyone?!

Could the reverse also be true? Instead of reasoning with yourself and convincing yourself of an alternate reality, couldn’t you also tell yourself a truth? A fact? A new story for yourself? An alternate ending?

What in the atmosphere does this have to do with family travel? Everything. This is about the million and one “excuses” you are forced to create, or make, of why you can’t afford it, why it’s too scary, why it’s great for others but not for me.

The truth:

Here’s a real slap of reality: It is just as easy to tell yourself of what you are, what you can do, what you will do, as it is to literally make, fabricate, create excuses of why you can’t, won’t, shouldn’t or any other n’t you can think up. You have the power right between your own two ears, to change, design, create, and build any life you choose.

Your mind will create a reality. That’s its job. That’s what it does. It’s a little reality factory up there, cranking away at building every possible scenario to every situation it can conceive of. All the while you are just soaking up new experiences and situations like a tourist on the beach. Laying in the sun letting it all sink in.

So start, grab life with your hands, and refuse to let your mind make one more excuse. Shut down the factory, and instead, start suppling it with a new reality. Shove new ideas and outcomes in there and TELL it what will be going on from this point forward.

For me, I’m going to sit here and write. I’m going to pound this keyboard until the letters are worn off. I’m going to type and throw words at the screen until there is something legible and there are people who want to read it. I’m done with excuses. They are pitiful, embarrassing, ridiculous, and stupid.

But the best part about them?

The very best part?

 

They aren’t even real! :)

 

 

68 – Family Travel Q & A – Part 3

family travel-3Live Life!

This episode wraps up the Q & A series (for now) but a lot of people have really liked it and written in, so we’re going to think more seriously about adding it as a weekly feature.

If you need a ‘nudge’ to get traveling, hopefully this show will get you thinking in the right direction. Life is short, and we don’t know what’s around the corner. Better to grab it with (more…)

67 – Family Travel Q & A – Part 2

family travel-2Travel Tales: 

Ok, hopefully these are helpful and not just annoying. These are questions we thought we’d answer and see if people liked it and more importantly, were helped by it!

If you have plans to travel, we’d love to hear about them, and if we can help in any way at all, we’d love to!

If you have questions about (more…)

66 – Family Travel Q & A – Part 1

family travelQuestions and Answers:

This week we take a little detour from the normal format and dive into the long list of questions we often get asked, as well as questions that come into us through this show!

I know, I know, it’s not as exciting as some exotic family doing something insane, but hopefully it’s some useful information for you to learn from and plan your own escape. I mean really, wouldn’t you rather be (more…)

65 – Expat Family in Guatemala!

sunglassesExpat Family ~Like a Boss!

This week, we are joined by Ken Weary, running aficionado. When he and his wife went to Guatemala for a get-a-way, they never dreamed they’d be hit by the “why-the-hell-not” bug and turn their world upside down and hit the road! They met some other expats (families living abroad) and could not think of a reason why they would wait on the adventure of a lifetime.

After arming themselves with research about driving through Central America, safety, school options, income, etc. they became an expat family themselves and now reside in the hills of Guatemala. In the interview, we cover things like (more…)

64 – Travel at the Speed of Life! Part 2

Travel at the Speed of Life!-2

Family. RV. Australia!

This week, we finish the interview we started last week with Yasmin and Graeme from “travel at the speed of life” We launch into homeschooling/roadschooling, which leads to a discussion of how to do life differently, how to stop buying some of the lies offered on the treadmill lifestyle, and more importantly, how to (more…)

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